The board president and trustee representing District 7, Candi DePauw, is being challenged by political newcomer Joel Hill. And the trustee for District 5, Ray Montemayor, is fighting for re-election against another newcomer, Felicia Perez-Kausin.

For the second time in two years, the college was recently put back on probation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It was determined that the college was not meeting all of its accreditation requirements. The board and new Superintendent and President Dr. Willard Clark Lewallen have been working toward keeping the school on the right track so students don’t suffer the consequences. If the school were to officially lose accreditation, students may have trouble transferring credits to other universities.

Candi DePauw has been a trustee for the college since 2009. She admits that before being elected, she had never been involved in education, other than being a student.

DePauw was born in Texas but has lived in South County for 30 years. She’s a landscape contractor, she works for Monterey County Agriculture Education and is the coordinator of Farm Day. She said she’s a good choice to represent her community because, “I’ve spent quite a bit of time learning the role of the trustee and the types of things that the college and the college community needs from the board of trustees.”

DePauw says one of the accomplishments she is most proud of, is being a part of the decision to hire Superintendent Lewallen. She says he’s been an integral part of uniting the board and tackling the recommendations to get the school off probation, which is her main goal. “Frankly the accreditation issues are probably the most important thing because accreditation exists so that the school can evaluate where they are and what they’re doing. Are they achieving the goals and are they going forward, are they getting better?” DePauw said.

Opponent Joel Hill says he’s been considering a run for the board of trustees for many years. He says now seemed like an appropriate time, claiming the current board appears to be at odds. Hill says he can help the college meet recommendations to get off probation and maintain accreditation status. “Some things need somebody to actually sit down and go over the language, which not everybody always wants to do, I’m that guy. I believe in transparency, accountability, and holding people responsible.”

Second to accreditation, Hill says is the importance of creating more vocational and certificate programs. “You’re skilled that where you can get a certificate in 18 months to 2 years and have a real job and not only that, a real job that’s local. I think we need to focus on local jobs,” Hill said.

Hill says he’s more than qualified to represent the 7th District. Born and raised in King City, Hill has deep family roots in South County dating back more than 100 years. He’s a former student of Hartnell College; he majored in agribusiness. Hill also worked for the Ag Commissioner’s Office for nearly eight years and is currently a business field Representative for SEIU 521. Being a labor representative, Hill also wants the college to consider using union and local labor whenever there is a building project at the college.

Recently, Hill partnered with current Hartnell Trustee and candidate for District 5 Ray Montemayor for a proposed joint powers agreement for maintenance of city vehicles throughout the county. Montemayor Has been serving as Trustee for his district since 2009. “We’ve done a lot of work, good things… and I’d like to continue with the things we’re doing” Montemayor said.

Montemayor is best known for being a migrant farm worker, a member of the Board of Directors for the Sunrise House and a longtime employee for the city of Salinas. It’s also been reported that Montemayor is a member of the activist group, The Coalition. The group is known for preaching about education, oppression and getting more Latinos elected to office. Montemayor says he’s proud to have been a part of the decision to hire Superintendent Lewallen and help Hartnell get on the right track towards getting off probation.

Much like candidate Hill from District 7, Montemayor also wants to see the school offer more vocational and certificate programs, specifically the Auto Repair Program that was shutdown. Montemayor also expresses concern student enrollment, “We need to broaden the pathways to students. To go to Hartnell with the state of the economy, it’s narrowing the fulltime students that we can accept. We need to widen it, meaning for veterans, California dreamers, we need to find a way to get more people in instead of less.”

Opponent Felicia Perez-Kausin says she’s been looking to get involved with Hartnell for quite some time. She says she wants what’s best for the students, and points out right now, the board appears split.

“How do we get the retention higher? How do we grow? How do we get off probation? How do we make it about them and not about personal agendas? I think that’s really important for the school and what it represents,” Kausin said.

A former Hartnell student herself, Perez-Kausin says her top priority is seeing through the accreditation process: “You talk about being on probation, it’s the security, they want to feel secure. They want to know that the classes they’re taking are going to transfer.” Perez-Kausin explains she would also like to see more outreach to middle school students, to get them thinking about local college at an early age.

Perez-Kausin may be new to the political arena but she insists she’s no stranger to working with a team and getting results. Perez-Kausin was born and raised in Salinas. She has experience working in banking, sales, marketing and budget development. Perez-Kausin is a wife, mother of two and grandmother to one. She says she’s spent much of her adult life as a volunteer for the community, with organizations like Community Foundation for Monterey County Women’s Fund Impact Committee and Women’s Economic Security Working Group. She’s also served as a board trustee for Monterey College of Law.

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